Brotherly Advice
by callmeonetrack
Summary: Zak will always be his little brother and Lee’s job will always be to protect him.


Title: Brotherly Advice  
Characters: Lee, Zak, Kara  
Rating: PG-13 (Just lots of innuendo)  
Disclaimer: It's all Ron D. Moore's world. We're just living in it.  
Spoilers: None, set pre-Mini  
Summary: Zak will always be his little brother and Lee's job will always be to protect him.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Zak is fidgeting with his bottle of beer, peeling the label into tiny spirals and dropping them on the small wooden table in Kara's kitchen.

"You have to ask?" Zak grins and Lee thinks his brother has never looked younger.

"It's about Kara."

And Lee's never felt older.

"She's been, well, different, lately." They've been dating for three months.

Lee takes a sip of his coffee, busying his hands and hoping Zak won't notice the way the cup clatters against the saucer roughly. "Different?"

"She seems distracted."

"Well, she does have a full roster of classes this semester. Supervising 220 know-it-all nuggets would distract anyone, especially if they're all like you."

Zak grins. "They better not be." He sweeps the beer label pilings into a small pyramid. "But it's not that. Kara's not one to take her work home with her."

_Only her students,_ Lee thinks uncharitably.

"She's been…." He breaks off, having the grace to look embarrassed. "…different in bed."

Lee's hand tightens around the coffee mug, knuckles white, palm seared by the near-boiling contents, but he doesn't even notice it. He's too busy controlling the muscles in his jaw, fighting not to clench his teeth, as he says. "Zak, I don't think I'm…"

But his brother barrels on, completely oblivious. "Oh, I mean she's still a tiger, don't get me wrong," he leers and Lee tries not to think about smacking his smug mug, "but, well…"

_Oh for the love of the gods._

"She never used to close her eyes before."

This is where he starts scanning the room, his eyes drawn to the exits and the windows, cursing this Godsdamn crappy neighborhood with its triplicate locks and iron bars. Even if he was foolish enough to try to rip his way out of the place, he couldn't do it fast enough to not hear any more because Zak is on a roll now.

"..and she's started calling me…"

_Frak._ Giving up on an escape plan, Lee reluctantly drags his eyes back at his kid brother.

"…Adama."

He lets out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Well, that is your name." The _mine too _bounces uncomfortably on the end of his tongue, careening off the walls of his mouth, and for a few seconds he grinds his teeth together to be sure it doesn't escape.

"Yeah, but…" Zak trails off, looking miserably at the floor.

Lee too looks away, thinking how unfair this is, that he should be the one to have to explain his brother's fiancée to him. "Look Zak, Kara's…complicated." _Understatement of the year_. "Gods knows what goes through that blonde head sometimes. I don't think I'll ever understand her."

_Too personal_, Lee thinks, circling it around to get out of the singular. "But one thing I'm absolutely positive of is this: She loves you." She chose you.

And he knew this to be true. Searing glances and lack of personal space and not-so-innocent flirtations aside, he couldn't deny this. Even though he wanted to. Wanted to list all the reasons why he knew she was made for him and not his little brother. She flies like she's my other half. She looks at me with more emotion than anyone ever has in my whole life. She's frakked up on the outside, just like I am on the inside.

But he can't say any of it, because Zak smiles, and even though it had been overcast an hour ago when he entered the apartment and all the shades were drawn, Lee's as sure as the day's long that the sun has come out again, is in fact, shining, right out of his little brother's face. And in that moment, he looks so much like Kara that Lee cringes. He studies his hands—still white knuckled—and thinks about how wrong it is that he should be the one named after the sun god when Zak's always been the one that the gods smiled upon.

His brother shakes his head. "You're right, I'm being a paranoid fool. She's the most fantastic woman I've ever met and here I am getting all stupid about it just because she didn't shout my name to the heavens last night." He brightens again, throwing a wink at Lee.

"After all, it's not like she said—"

_Oh no, please Zak, don't say—_

"APOLLO!"

Lee flinches, looking over to the apartment doorway, where Kara has just banged in, a bag of groceries balanced against her hip and grinning that way at him. "When the frak did the cat drag you in?"

He clears his throat, and wishes she didn't look so damn happy to see him. Not that that was stopping her from crossing the room and kissing his brother hello like _he_ was the one that she hadn't seen in weeks.

Lee stares at the dregs in his cup, shifting uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair, and musters up a weak smile. "Oh, an hour or so ago. Zak called me. He needed a little brotherly advice."

Kara's lips, the ones he doesn't like to think about, tug into a smirk and she tilts her head, dropping the groceries on the table, sprawling into the empty chair between them. An apple falls out of the tilted bag and rolls into Lee's lap. He grabs it, thinking of the old myth about Adam and Eve and the thirteenth tribe of Earth and almost smiles. Forbidden fruit, how appropriate.

But then Kara swings around, a dangerous glint in her eyes, and leans in closer to him. "So, do tell. What kind of advice does the great Apollo have to share today?" He watches as the tip of her tongue peeks out between those lips (gods, again) and wets them. Does she do it deliberately or is it subconscious? It doesn't matter, has the same damn effect either way.

The air is swirling in the apartment and Lee feels like he's been pulled into the center of an inescapable vortex. This happened every time she got too close and he didn't understand why he could never remember to breathe around her.

"I just told him not to overthink things."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Hmm. That's good advice, big bro." And she grins viciously, because he was stupid enough to tell her to never call him that once, finally moving back out of his personal space. "Sounds like something I'd say." Quick as a viper, she grabs the apple out of his hand and bites into it, chewing loudly, eyes burning into him.

Of course. It's something she tells him all the time. Before they do a particularly tricky sim run, or hustle a game of pool at the local bar. More importantly, it's the first thing she ever said to him.

Zak had convinced him to meet them at a club—Lee hated clubs—in Delphi, so he could introduce the newest love of his life. Lee hadn't known what to expect. Zak was forever falling in love with someone. Brunettes, redheads, blondes, tall, short, curvy, slim. There was no type of woman Zak didn't like. So Lee had no expectations of what this month's flavor might be.

Whatever he might have envisioned didn't matter anyhow, because he never could have prepared for the reality. Ironically, he'd seen Kara first that night. She strutted into the place like she owned it, dressed in tight black jeans, boots and a paint-splattered leather jacket, his little brother in tow, and Lee's first lucid thought was _oh, here comes trouble_. When Zak introduced them, she shook his hand, wide cool eyes sizing him up, appraising him as if he was a fresh kill for sale at the butcher. She didn't say _hello_, or _nice to meet you_, or _I've heard a lot about you _or any of the other usual meet-and-greet pleasantries. She didn't say anything at all, just nodded once, and maybe her face held a smile…if you squinted.

But Zak talked enough for all three of them, babbling out a list of Kara's accomplishments at the academy (which, Lee thought at the time, were ridiculously overblown) and Lee's exploits in the Caprican reserves (hardly worth mentioning really). She said nothing, just watched him the entire time, even rolling her eyes a bit after some of Zak's more boisterous bragging. Finally, she turned to his brother (and Lee slumped a little, wondering why it felt like someone had just boomed out the "At Ease" command) and shut Zak up with an uncomfortably long kiss before smacking his ass and telling him that if he was going to bore them to tears with his stories all night, the least he could do was get them something to drink at the bar.

Love befuddled and beaming, Zak stumbled off and Kara turned back to him, shifting slightly to lean against the wall next to him and look out over the smoky, packed dance floor. The music changed from a slow ballad to a pounding rhythm, all drums and electric guitars. Her foot started tapping and after a minute she shrugged off her leather jacket and threw it over a chair. She stalked forward, a black tank setting off a set of dogtags and a surprisingly slight but well-muscled frame. After a few steps, she turned back, as if remembering he was there and held out a hand to him. Confused, Lee looked at it and then at her. He wasn't sure what to do, but somehow he didn't think it would be a very good idea to follow her out to that dance floor. And his trepidation had nothing to do with his two left feet.

She saw his hesitation and smiled with a hint of malice. "Don't overthink it, Lee." Her voice was low and husky, yet he heard her clear as crystal over the din. "Are you in…or out?"

He looked at her eyes, which were darker now and he was sure he saw a challenge glinting in them. And he knew in a second, that this was more than just an invitation to dance. In fact, he had a sneaking suspicion that it could just be an invitation to the best night of his frakking life…and he wondered idly, how the heck he'd managed, before he'd even touched a drop of alcohol, to become completely intoxicated by his brother's girl.

Despite all this, he took a step forward anyway, one hand lifting to thread through hers, but then the crowd shifted and he could see Zak across the room turning from the bar, carefully juggling three drinks, a moonstruck smile still gracing his face.

Lee gulped and stepped back, his hands behind his back, palms pressed against the relative security of the wall. He looked at Kara. "I'd better not." He fumbled, trying to think of a good response, but wasn't quite sure what to add.

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and he thought he saw a quick flash of surprise pass over her face before she smiled a Cheshire cat grin. Shrugging, she said, "Your loss," and stepped back into the crowd on the dance floor, turning her back on him and sliding into a gap between two marines. In a moment, she was gone.

Then Zak was there, handing him a bottle and looking around. "Where'd Kara go?'

Lee didn't speak, not trusting his voice just yet, and nodded to the dance floor. As if on cue, the crowd shifted and the Adama brothers watched the shiny cap of blonde hair bouncing in the middle of the floor. Kara's eyes were closed, her arms were over her head and her hips were undulating wickedly to the music. She was completely lost in it and Lee was surprised to feel a stab of—no, not lust—envy because he couldn't ever remember losing himself in anything that way. At least, not till tonight.

"She's something else, huh?" Zak was watching too, his face euphoric. "It took me three months to get her to agree to go out with me. This is only the second time. She won't sleep with me…yet. Calls me nugget all the time." He shook his head, took a pull off his own bottle, before looking back at Lee. "I'm not even sure she likes me all that much or if she's just humoring me, but I don't care. She's worth it." He paused. "Yup. That's the woman I'm going to marry."

Lee's eyes widened, heart beating arhythmically, still feeling like somehow the planet had shifted five degrees while he wasn't looking.

"Good luck, little brother," he finally murmured. "I think you're gonna need it."

There's still a distinct lack of air in the apartment and Lee wonders at how the walls seem to be the slightest bit closer now. He looks away from Kara's intense gaze and his eyes fall on Zak, watching them. He's smiling, but there's a small crease between his eyes and Lee's not sure if it's from bewilderment or annoyance.

The silence holds a beat too long, Kara's noisy smacking on the apple fills the void, until Lee realizes it's his turn to speak again.

"As if you ever think about anything," he tosses off, glancing towards Kara then ducking to sip the now cold coffee. If his voice shook the slightest bit, no one noticed. And Zak was smiling easily again.

Kara grins, not offended, of course. She never is. She flips the now decimated apple core into his lap. Seeds and shreds of pulp mark his thigh before it bounces off to the carpet. "Oh, you might be surprised, Apollo." She rises from the chair, leaning one arm and the edge of her hip against the table next to him. If he shifts just an inch to the left, his thigh—the dirty one—will brush hers. He drags his eyes away from her hip. She's looking down at him, staring at the wet mark on his jeans, her eyes searing a track up his chest and finally locking with his.

"I have a very…active imagination."

She twists her head back to Zak and winks, grabs the bag of groceries, and struts off to the kitchen. Zak watches her, beaming, a combination of idol worship and unbridled lust in his gaze. Lee hopes to hell that's not the expression he's wearing too. He has to call Zak's name twice and it's not until he stands up and shrugs on his jacket that his little brother's attention returns.

"Hey, stay for dinner. I'm cooking so you don't have to worry about Kara poisoning us."

Her voice singsongs out through the doorway. "I heard that and you are going to pay for it later, Adama."

Lee smiles, forcing down the not-so-brotherly thoughts her mocking words conjure. "Tempting as it sounds, I gotta go. I've got an early morning."

Zak shrugs and clasps his shoulder. "Well thanks anyway man." He lowers his voice a bit. "And you're right. I think I was just being paranoid. Good thing I've got you watching out for my best interests, right bro?

"Always." Lee swallows the lump in his throat as he walks out the door, pausing just over the threshold as his head clears and his lungs inflate once more.

Zak will always be his little brother and Lee's job will always be to protect him.

He just never thought it would be from him.

--fin--


End file.
